Elgin Park: Visual Memories of Midcentury America at 1/24th Scale

At first glance, Smith’s work appeared to be wonderful photographs from a bygone era. The awe slips in as it becomes clear that he not only created the photographs – without using Photoshop – but also built everything in each scene, except the cars, which are die cast models, at 1/24th scale.

Smith also constructed much of what is barely visible in the photos: shoeboxes, furniture, branders for stage lights, a lawnmower, and even the gravel, snow and tire tracks in the snow are to scale.

Although the photographs are strong enough to stand alone as the main character of this delightful book, there’s another story: how a humble recluse who didn’t even own a car had created an online community – a global neighborhood of young and old, male and female, many asking the same question: How did this guy do this?